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Leon is a young man of Irish American descent.[3] He recently graduated from the police academy and is now appointed as a police officer at the Raccoon City Police Department, receiving the position only days prior to the outbreak. He works under Chief Brian Irons and his commanding officer, Roy.[4] One of Leon's colleagues is a man named Marvin.[4]

Leon with his dog.

In his personal life, Leon maintains an active interest in physical fitness, keeping his body in top shape.[5] He also has a dog—a bloodhound.[3]
Note:In his later iteration in The Darkside Chronicles in the Memories of A Lost City arc, he appears to have some form of martial arts training.

Leon is an attractive, fit, and cool young man. For his height he is rather slim but in the Final Release of Resident Evil 2 one of his unlockable outfits suggests he's rather muscular as well.[5] He has brown hair in a curtained cut and blue or brown eyes.[note 1] Off-duty, Leon likes to wear leather jackets and often wears two necklaces--one with a piece of sheep's bone and another with a pendant of Thor's Hammer.

In the early stages of development, a different cast of characters existed along with a male protagonist named "Grant Bitman".[6] Not much is known about this stage of production, aside from a packet of materials kept by programmer Hiroyuki Kobayashi.[6]

During initial press coverage of the project in September 1996, "Grant" had already been reworked into Leon S. Kennedy. At the time, both Leon and Elza had been created, but Leon was shown to be the only character with a complete in-game model and working animations. His origin as a trained police officer, similar to Chris Redfield, had been established at this point, along with his rookie position.

Sometime between September and October 1996, Leon was showcased with a new plainclothes design.

Materials shown in October revealed another brand new "armed" uniform design for Leon. His origin was now modified to include information about his graduation from the police academy, his demeanor, and his age--23-years-old.

In a leaked build from November 1996, Leon uses Chris Redfield's acting from the previous game as a placeholder voice. All of his statistics had been finalized, including his final age of 21-years-old. This build showcases several cutscenes for Leon, most notably his scenes in the Raccoon City Police Department and the Raccoon City Underground Laboratory.

By December 1996, voice acting had been implemented into the game and both Leon and Elza were given their own unique character sounds.[7]